BBC NEWS : 'German' Mozart upsets Austrians
Very well said. They should have called the poll "greatest German-speaker", so as to include those born outside present day Germany (especially Poland and Austria).
My foot 'undisputedly-German' ! Beethoven is from Dutch-Belgian and Austrian descent, though he was born in Bonn, Germany. His family name is Dutch. That's because of this "Europeanness" that his 9th symphony was chosen as the EU's national anthem (among other reasons).
Einstein was a Jew born in Switzerland who later moved to the US and was naturalised American. How German is that ? At least his mother-tongue was German.
Austrians have voiced their upset over a shortlist for a "best Germans" TV show that includes the Salzburg-born composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
A spokeswoman from the Austrian embassy in London told BBC News Online said that Mozart was neither German or Austrian as he came from Salzburg when it was its own city state, but that Austria now claimed him as "Austrian".
Other disputed candidates in the ZDF-made show include the composer Joseph Haydn, who was born in Vienna, and psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud.
ZDF said there was always likely to be some controversy because Germany's borders had changed so often, and producers were having difficulties suggesting some candidates born outside of Germany's present-day borders.
Very well said. They should have called the poll "greatest German-speaker", so as to include those born outside present day Germany (especially Poland and Austria).
Some of the undisputedly-German candidates include the composer Ludwig van Beethoven, scientist Albert Einstein, writer Gunter Grass, tennis player Boris Becker and the supermodel Claudia Schiffer.
My foot 'undisputedly-German' ! Beethoven is from Dutch-Belgian and Austrian descent, though he was born in Bonn, Germany. His family name is Dutch. That's because of this "Europeanness" that his 9th symphony was chosen as the EU's national anthem (among other reasons).
Einstein was a Jew born in Switzerland who later moved to the US and was naturalised American. How German is that ? At least his mother-tongue was German.